trail setters: my family started a farmers market

 

My mom and stepdad started a little Sunday farmers market in town. Yesterday was the first day and we were all pleasantly surprised by our town's turnout. We even had a few folks linger in from Seattle. We couldn't have asked for better weather too- bright sunny skies. My parents are calling their baby a "grower's market", meaning the focus of the market will be Washington grown and produced foods and plants. Maybe one or two craft vendors, but that's it. Food vendors will have to use Washington grown food and produce, so, for example, we have a hot dog vendor coming in who will be using locally raised pork. Essentially, their market is what farmers markets should be, but often deviate from. For instance, you'll head to market and only be able to find one or two farmers in a sea of crafts. I'm looking forward to watching this market grow. It's in an excellent spot: in the middle of town near a large grassy area with a playground and skate park. Anyway, below are a few photos I took from opening day. I sold edible and pollinator-attracting plant starts I grew myself. My parents had their awesome tomatoes up for sale (of course). 

 



1. My parents' beefsteak tomatoes.
2. My little plant stand.                                                                                                                        
3. Some of my starts.
4. My big ol' pregnant belly. I'm due August 6th!
5. Blowing the conch shells (old market tradition) at the end of the day. My stepdad's to the right.

trail setters: inspirational quote

trail setters: happy 4th o' july!

In honor of the holiday of Independence, Happy 4th o' July everyone! Here's a quick batch of blooms from my garden...kind of in the red, white and blue theme.

trail setters: hanging at the farmers market

I worked a farmers market today for Frog's Song Farm. In between the hustle and bustle, I was able to snap these photos....

My mom (right) and Adrienne (left), my Fairy Godmother 

My mom's homemade soap

My family's Flying Tomato Farm tomatoes

Flying Tomato Farm Garlic Scapes

Wild morel mushrooms at the Frog's Song Farm stand

The first of the strawberries at the Frog's Song Farm stand

Rhubarb at the Frog's Song Farm stand

Little baby beets at the Frog's Song Farm stand

trail setters: flying tomato farm blog

I'm starting a blog focused on my family's farm, Flying Tomato Farm (check it out by clicking on the link). I'm still developing it...deciding on what style and colors I'd like it to have. I'll also be setting up a website for them soon. It will be fun to track all of their progress this upcoming growing season and provide their customers with an outlet to learn more about them and their growing practices.

trail setters: brussel sprout trees have arrived at the co-op

Finally after about a month of searching, I've had locally grown brussel sprouts (on the stalk no less) brought into the co-op. I found them by asking around- "who has brussel spouts? who has brussel sprouts?", whenever I'd be ordering from a farmer or talking to my PR gal (who knows some farmers as well). I could have just taken the easy way out and ordered California-grown brussel sprouts, but I wanted to bring in something really special and local for the upcoming holidays. These brussel sprout trees come from Snowgoose Produce of Fir Island, Washington, up near Mt. Vernon and down the road from Frog's Song Farm. I had heard that they had them, so when I was working in the back one day and Erica came in to deliver their gorgeous rainbow colored eggs (white, blue, brown and green eggs), I immediately asked her about the brussel sprouts. Yup, they had them! And yesterday they came with 28 stalks for the co-op along with their egg delivery. I wish I had a better photo of them...lately I've been having to take all of my photos on my cellphone. Anyway, it was quite the procession when we were bringing the stalks to the back. We carried box after box of these science fiction-looking tentacles loaded in sprouts. I kept jokingly saying, "be still my beating heart", as I was setting them out...I was so excited! To make the evening even better, Frog's Song Farm came in shortly after with a full delivery of arugula and ruby streaks mizuna bunches, fat green cabbage heads, bright lights swiss chard, fennel bulbs and beet bunches....this was as I was setting out more bok choi bunches from Five Acre Farm. Aww! Bringing in local!

trail setters: 10 reasons to support your local farmers

1. You support more open space in your area. If a farmer can afford to keep their lands, there's less of a chance that their land will get developed into ranch housing or "paved paradises".

2. You support nutritious food in your community. Locally grown food has higher vitamin content, as it can be picked in the peak of ripeness and brought to you quicker than if it had to be harvested under-ripe and shipped hundreds of miles. Also, food grown here is acclimated to our area- I sometimes wonder if certain food allergies are caused by eating food grown far away and if people could digest local foods easier.

3. You support bee survival in your area via the selection of blossoms and nectar sources farmers can supply to pollinators with their crops and orchards.

4. You support your local economy, especially during this hard economic time our country is facing. One of my favorite things to have happen while selling produce at a farmers market is to be checking out two customers and the first customer hands me what instantly becomes the "change" for the second person. For example, the first customer's total is $12 and the second customer's total is $8. The first customer hands me $12 exactly and the second customer hands me a $20. I immediately hand the first customer's $12 over to the second customer as their change. I know it's a little silly, but that is a true visual of the money that is cycling around the community from people shopping at my farmer's produce stand.

5. You support crop biodiversity. I recently read an article in National Geographic that discussed the extinction of several different types of vegetables (such as heirloom radishes and potatoes), caused by mass production of more generic crops. Supporting smaller farmers can help keep heirloom varieties alive.

6. You support the knowledge of where your food is coming from and have less risks for the salmonella and e.coli outbreaks that seem to occur with mass produced food.

7. You support the farmers for the labor they provide! Farmers work very hard, very long, grueling physical days and a lot of them end up with arthritis from all the minute work they do with their hands. We should show them the appreciation they deserve. It's patriotic.

8. You support better soil. Smaller, local farmers' livelihoods depend on the health and fertility of their soils, so more effort is put in to creating living soils rich in organic matter and nutrients through better growing methods and rotation.

9. You support the maintenance of a unique set of skills. The average farmer's age today is 55 and that average is continuing to climb. What does that mean? That less folks are getting into farming. When today's farmers age, who will grow our food? It's important to keep it so that people can actually make a living and support their families through farming.

10. You support your taste buds. Fresh food tastes better. Enough said!

trail setters: small tomato victory at the co-op

It’s been my first year working for my local natural food co-op’s produce department, and I've been slowly testing the waters to see how many of my favorite organic farmers I could bring into the store. This year I was able to bring in a lot of Frog’s Song Farm produce (I've sold their produce at markets for six summers now), including an assortment of their heirloom potatoes and fingerlings, fresh onions and shallots, cucumbers, spinach, salad greens, turnips, beets and more. I've also recently set my foot down on bringing in non-local tomatoes as it’s prime tomato season in our area and I truly believe in the Co-op’s mission statement about supporting local producers. My coworkers and produce team have all encouraged me in my attempts to change a few things, so I’m very grateful for them. My co-op’s tomatoes are now all 100% Washington grown. Someone in the back even created a sign for me, declaring the exciting news of sporting all local tomatoes (I really appreciate that!). I brought in my parent’s Beefsteaks, Yellow Pear and Mountain Magic tomatoes (Flying Tomato Farm) and I've also brought in Tonnemaker’s romas. I’ve worked markets next to Tonnemakers for years. We also have colorful cherries, romas and red and yellow slicers coming from Five Acre Farm and Okanagon Producers and heirloom tomatoes from Millingwood. Go little Co-op! I wonder how many of the larger Co-ops or health food stores in our area can claim 100% local tomatoes in their produce section.

As the "off-season" approaches, I look forward to heading to the few year round markets (such as Ballard or Bellingham) to see what some of our farmers will have in the colder months. There's no reason why we should have to ship in produce from California or Chile when, with a little sleuth, we can find Washington farmers offering overwintered beets, carrots and potatoes, fresh cabbages, kales and brussel sprouts, microgreens, parsnips and sunchokes and more. I am really looking forward to this challenge. I want to keep the local spirit alive in our co-op...to be a true outlet for farmers all year round. I am also going to see what I can grow out of my greenhouse this winter...

trail setters: a day at the farmers market

Summer is market season, and thus it's always the busiest season for me. I often have lots of dreams right about this time dealing with produce: dreams where I'm helping a customer and bagging their vegetables and then I don't give them accurate change, dreams where I spill fingerlings and huckleberries all over the sidewalk (wait...I've done that in real life), dreams where the scale isn't working or dreams where I'm surrounded by homegrown kohlrabi microgreens and everyone is excited and cheering for me (that was last night's dream). Yeah. This year I'm especially busy since I'm working the produce section of our local co-op as well and maintaining a household, wrangling furbabies and a husband, and keeping my vegetable garden happy and healthy. As most folks already know or probably already suspect, I've been a part of the market scene since I was a kid, so I've grown up with a lot of the farmers and vendors I work with. In a sense, we're like a giant family or community where everyone knows everyone.

Yesterday was a slower day at the market (SeaFair's going on this weekend), so I could take the time to catch a few photos of my family's tomato stand, Flying Tomato Farm, and the stand I work at, Frog's Song Farm. It's been a cold summer this year, so everything, again, is late. We have had sugar snap peas and rhubarb just until last week! All the way through August! And I haven't seen any west-side green beans yet...although chanterelles (a late September mushroom) are already showing up out in the wild. Freaky weather. Anyway, I'm very happy that my family's now making it out to markets with some tomatoes and cucumbers. The top two photos are of their stand. In previous years they've been at the market with their produce as early as May, but they decided not to heat their greenhouse this year and the cool weather contributed to the wait. But let me tell you, their tomatoes have been worth this wait. I made a delicious caprese salad yesterday after the market using their tomatoes and cucumbers. Mmm mmm crunchy, juicy goodness.

The bottom three photos are from the Frog's Song Farm stand. Frog's Song Farm's produce comes from a small, family farm based on Fir Island (up near Conway/LaConner). It's beautiful up there...one of these days I'll post some photos of the area. As far as the market's concerned, we have had so much more variety than what we started the cold season with. Now we have the following up for grabs: several types of fingerling and round potatoes (apple rose finns and peruvian purples made their appearance this week), french breakfast radishes, Japanese salad turnips, chioga and classic purple beets, nantes and heirloom rainbow and big n' ugly carrots, fava beans, red and golden raspberries (though the red raspberries may be on their way out), loose and bunched spinach, rainbow chard, red and white kale, salad mix, all sorts of head lettuce, sweet onions, red onions, shallots, head cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, the first of the chanterelles, zucchini and their squash blossoms, sweet pea flowers, sunflowers, and much more that I'm probably forgetting. Anyway, that cute gal in the last photo is a my super awesome and creative coworker, Heidi. She lives in Kingston and takes the ferry over to sell with me. We always have a fun time working together (especially since we share an affinity for sweet, sweet baked goods from the market as well as the pasta man's rice pudding, oh lord!). She also hooked me up with a darling black rabbit yesterday...but that's a story for next time!

trail setters: happy 4th of july!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Above is a pie plate full of fresh dug red, white and blue potatoes from my backyard. These will be turned into a festive potato salad shortly with the addition of some homegrown candy onion, celery and peas. I also have a Pacific Northwest bing cherry pie in the oven right now. Yum!

trail setters: mother's day on the tomato farm

For Mother's Day this year, I was lucky enough to spend some quality time on my folk's tomato farm with my mom, step-dad, brother, husband and a motley crew of dogs. My mom and step-dad have quite the professional setup this year: a long, cathedral-like greenhouse with raised, cinder block lined beds. I guess there are over 500 tomato plants growing on their site, not to mention the assortment of pepper plants they also have in the works. They'll be carting their homegrown goods to market in the coming months. Above, you'll see a photo of a little yellow flower. In time, this blossom will become a ripe, juicy tomato.

trail setters: looking forward to farmers markets

Here's a little video I shot at the Edmonds Farmers Market (when I was supposed to be selling vegetables). Just thought I'd post it here, after all, market season is right around the bend...

trail setters: planting begins!

Today marked the kick-off for our tomato starts' migration outdoors. My family was able to wheel barrow out several plants fairly earlier than last year's bunch due to the mild winter the Pacific Northwest has been having. We filled the first greenhouse with six long rows of Trust Beefsteaks and shall be planting more tomatoes in the next few days and weeks, dependent on variety and start-size. Working as a team, my step-dad, Neil, used a bulb planter to create aligned holes for the tomatoes while my mom and I lovingly planted each start, gently covering each with a blanket of well-tilled soil and dark, rich compost. It was also quite warm in the greenhouse today with the sun shining overheard... almost 70 degrees Fahrenheit! This warmth, combined with the feeling of cool, moist dirt on my hands, the scent of tangy tomato plants and earthy alfalfa grass, and the sight of happy little earth worms squirming about...well, it certainly made for a good day.

trail setters: baby tomaters

My family's tomatoes are starting to sprout! These lil' greenies will grow into thick, 8 foot tall, 20 foot long plants, transforming the insides of my family's greenhouses into jungles in due time for the market season. I love it when I walk into the greenhouse on a mid-summer afternoon and have to yell, "MOM!?" in order to find the lady. Often I'll see her raise her hand up, waving over the vines, exclaiming, "I'm over here!" Anyway, this year we're growing 'Trust Beefsteaks' (a hearty, fat sandwich slicer), mini yellow 'Golden Rave Romas' (imagine the sauce you'll get from these honeys!), some plum tomatoes and black cherry tomatoes (umm...sexy!). There's also some 'Camaro' English cucumbers sprouting, but that's a tale for another day.

As far as getting the whole process going, the tomatoes are planted indoors right after Christmas. The seeds are lovingly dispersed around seed flats placed upon heating mats and are showered with lots of bright, LED light. These seeds thrive in a soil pH of about 6.8 and are heavy-feeders. Keeping the soil's phosphorous levels up makes for a happy tomato plant and my family also supplies the seedlings with beneficial fungi known as mycorrhiza. Mycorrhiza basically aid the roots of the tomatoes in mineral and water absorption via a mutualistic relationship. When the plants reach about 10inches tall they'll be moved outside to their new greenhouse homes. This should be around Valentine's Day- another tomato milestone to look forward to this winter! Oh! And you can read an article about my family's farm here:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20070725/LIVING01/707250312